China, which is widely regarded as North Korea’s patron, may have been another target audience of North Korea’s statement. Source: AP.

North Korea plans to continue with its nuclear tests, the country’s National Defense Commission confirmed in a statement made on Jan. 24. In the long term, these plans may deal another deadly blow to nuclear non-proliferation and set a poor example for other rogue states. The move has been challenged in the U.N. Security Council.

This time, the
North Korean authorities, headed by the young new leader Kim Jong-un, are
trying to take on the whole world. “We don't deny that our satellites and
long-range missiles — which we will continue to launch — as well as our future
high level nuclear tests, will be used against our arch enemy, the United
States,” the country’s National Defense Commission announced in a statement
distributed by the Korean Central News Agency on Jan. 24.

The statement
from Pyongyang came in response to the U.N. Security Council’s resolution
condemning the launch of North Korean satellite Kwangmyongsong-3 in December
2012, as well as the strengthening of international sanctions against the
country. Chinese diplomats tried to soften the stance adopted by the UNSC by
proposing to present it in the form of a UNSC President’s statement, but the
attempt failed.

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“The resolution has been adopted unanimously. Actually, it
speaks for itself: such launches, as well as nuclear explosions, have been
banned in resolutions passed by the Security Council previously,” Russian
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, commenting on the document.

It is easy to see
through the brinkmanship of North Korea’s statement. It does not mention any
dates, nor does it specify what the so-called high level tests denote. Do they
mean an underground nuclear explosion, subcritical tests, or other types of
simulation well known to nuclear powers?

Vyacheslav
Amirov, an expert with the Institute of World Economy and International
Affairs’ Center for Asia-Pacific Studies, argues there are at least three
reasons behind Pyongyang’s harsh stance. First of all, the people of North
Korea needed reassurance that their leaders remain united and strong. Second,
these claims are a bargaining chip in the talks on the provision of economic
aid. “Finally, this is a message to South Korean authorities,” says Amirov.

"The new president will be sworn into office in late February, and Seoul is
currently discussing the prospects for mending its relationship with North
Korea. Pyongyang is trying to exert pressure on its neighboring country through
such threats,” he added.

China, which is
widely regarded as North Korea’s patron, may have been another target audience
of North Korea’s statement. It is true that China has called for moderation in
response to Pyongyang’s protest. However, at the meeting with South Korean
delegates in late January, General Secretary Xi Jinping of the Communist Party
of China highlighted that his country did not approve of North Korea’s plans to
further increase its stock of nuclear arms and other weapons of mass
destruction.

Furthermore,
according to a statement released by the North Korean Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, alongside the declaration of the country’s military, North Korea
refuses to resume the talks on its nuclear program. The talks had been mildly
successful in the last 10 years, before the negotiations stalled in 2009. The
adoption of UNSC’s latest resolution makes the denuclearization of the Korean
peninsula impossible, North Korea’s foreign agency warned.

“Pyongyang has
made it clear that denuclearization is out of the question — that North Korea
is a nuclear power, and will remain one until the whole world is
denuclearized... which is not likely to happen any time soon. This is the
reality that we have to take in,” says Georgy Toloraya, research supervisor on
Korea at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Economics Institute.

North Korea sets
a bad example for Iran in the run-up to a new round of talks with the six
intermediaries representing the permanent members of the U.N. and the EU. This
kind of attitude also serves as a kind of excuse for those states that have
built up their nuclear capabilities in defiance of the Treaty on the
Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons — namely India, Pakistan and Israel.

At the same time,
there is no doubt North Korea remembers the fates of Gadhafi and Hussein, who
abandoned their attempts to create nuclear weapons; North Korea also remembers
efforts pursued by the United States and South Korea to topple its regime
through external pressure and economic sanctions. In any case, the latest
statements from North Korea not only oppose the U.S. before the whole world,
but they also question the authority of the UNSC — in particular, of those of
its members who disagree with the policy of suffocating renegade regimes with
political and economic sanctions.

Russia certainly
has no need of another nuclear power at its borders — especially if such a
state attempts to use nuclear tests to resolve both its external and internal
issues, which are highly complex.

There is no doubt
that the international community will be unanimous in its reaction to North Korea’s
declarations. Yet whether or not this response will be effective is yet to be
seen.